WALKERVILLE HERITAGE BID
Developers say plan to seek protection for Walkerville landmark a betrayal
Designation plan angers developers
The City of Windsor’s development and heritage committee is recommending provincial heritage designation for the redeveloped Walker Power Building — a move the site’s owners are calling “heavy-handed” and “reneging on a promise.”
Kathleen Montello, legal counsel for the developers of the historic building at 325 Devonshire Rd., said her clients were told early in their investment that the municipality would not seek heritage designation.
“It was a critical event in that stage of planning,” Montello said. “It gave (my clients) the assurance that their future development at this site would not be inhibited.”
She described the municipality’s new requirement as “a true indignation” to her clients that might stall further development at the site, and could also have “a chilling effect” on other revitalization projects.
Montello made the comments on Monday at a meeting of the city’s development and heritage standing committee, where she argued against administration that the city should publish a notice of intention to recognize the Walker Power Building under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The committee unanimously agreed with administration.
“The heritage designation often times gets distorted and disrespected by many in the community,” said committee chair Coun. Rino Bortolin. “The City of Windsor has been nothing but a great partner on this property.”
Bortolin said the site’s investors will reap the rewards of “having one of the flagship buildings in our entire city.”
“It is heritage items like this that make Walkerville the special place that it is,” Bortolin declared.
He added that the public and the media need to get away from the idea that there’s something negative or anti-business about heritage designation.
“Quite frankly, it’s getting tiring.”
Originally built between 1911 and 1913, the Walker Power Building has been the subject of a multimillion-dollar reconstruction project, funded by the engineering firm of Piero Aleo and the legal firm of Patrick Ducharme.
Montello said her clients have personally invested more than $10 million into the endeavour, which is slated for completion by the end of 2020.
The structure and its property have been on the municipal heritage register since 2007 as a prime example of “early industrial Walkerville.”
However, the building was vacant and deteriorating for several years before Aleo and Ducharme took ownership and began redevelopment around 2016.
“This site had been left to rot,” Montello argued. “No investor until (my clients) had been willing to take on the task of resurrecting this decrepit property that had languished for so long, due to the risks involved and the sheer enormity of the project.”
City planner Thom Hunt said the purpose of the provincial heritage designation would be to protect the look and feel of the facade from the street level — particularly from Riverside Drive East.
As well, the designation would protect the 1880s railway turntable at the northwest corner of the building footprint that was uncovered last year during the redevelopment process.
“Archaeological assessments conducted confirmed that the subject property has cultural heritage value and interest,” administration stated in a report.
Hunt was taken aback by Montello’s comments. He praised the project’s progress, and said administration had thought the request for heritage designation would be considered “a celebration for (the developers’) efforts.”
“It’s almost — from our perspective — an award that we want to celebrate the heritage of the building.
“Not just for the owners’ sake, but obviously for the community’s interest,” he said.
“We don’t necessarily see it as an impediment to economic investment,” Hunt added. “In fact, we see it as a positive. A carrot, rather than a stick.”
Ward 4 Coun. Chris Holt, a committee member, said he finds it “rather insulting” that anyone would insinuate the committee and administration are working against the viability of the site.
“Everybody has rallied around this redevelopment for years now,” said Holt — whose ward includes the Walker Power Building address.
“We’ve worked tirelessly to make sure that the developers are successful … and that the heritage aspects of our community are protected.”
Holt said that while the proponents — Aleo and Ducharme — have made “a very sizable investment” in the site, the city is also moving to invest “tens of millions of dollars” into the Devonshire Road and Riverside Drive East intersection, with the vision of making it “a grand entry into Walkerville.”
“It’s a partnership, between the private citizens and the public purse,” Holt said.
The matter will go before Windsor’s city council at a future meeting.
No investor ... had been willing to take on the task of resurrecting this decrepit property that had languished for so long